On Saturday we thought perhaps it would be cooler in Kobe as it’s near the water – we were wrong! Anyway, we caught a shinkansen for the 15 minute ride to Kobe. It’s a nice city, not that we saw much, but it reminded me of Yokohama. We had a late start so went straight to the port area of Meriken Park. They have an Earthquake Memorial there (big quake in 1995) where they have left part of the quayside as it was after the quake – crumpled concrete, sunken paths, crooked lamp posts, very Christchurch! The EQ really devastated the port area and it was one of the world’s busiest ports. I wish we’d had time to go to the EQ museum there, just to see how far they’ve come.
We did visit the joint Maritime Museum and Kawasaki Good Times World! We actually didn’t look at the Maritime part cos we were there for the Kawasaki stuff. Unbelievable company! I had no idea all the things they have built!! Founded in 1896 they started out as shipbuilders, they went on to build motorcycles (obviously), trains including shinkansen, submarines, container ships, jetskis, planes, helicopters, industrial plants, even the big drills that drilled the Channel Tunnel! It was all very impressive. We tried to get a book or something but there were none in English.
That night we met up with some friends who live in Osaka, so it was really great to get some insight from people who actually live there. We tried the local kushi katsu (fried things on sticks) and then hung out by the canal at Dotonbori. Great night!